Entry 13

2000 hours               May 19th 2007

Today I realized just what that attack did to us. We had lost 40 men and 23 were wounded. Of our entire battalion of 600 only 82 of us remained standing and operational. Among the dead was Hal, a giant among patriots, my only friend in this hellish trench war that eventually kills everything it comes into contact with. Hal and his entire squad were killed in the attack; my squad has also been killed only 1 corporal from my squad still stood alive. I barely got to see Hal’s body before it was put in a coffin and shipped back to the states, like the other 337 dead men of our battalion. I looked for Captain Voght to see if the recon photos had come in, but he had been killed in the attack, our battalion was now under the command of 1^st Lieutenant Street. Lt. Street told me we’re going to be reinforced by the 3^rd Infantry. Then he said, “right now were on our own.” If the Arabs counterattacked again, it would mean the death of us all. 82 against 800, we had no chance. Lt. Street later announced to the entire battalion that our orders were to assault and capture the Arab trenches ASAP. The surgeons in the sickbay worked 24/7 trying to give us more manpower for the upcoming assault. To tell you the truth I doubted any of us would make it through the next assault, Hal was a warrior, he was better than I was and now he is dead. I had killed 43 Arabs up till now do I feel satisfied? No. I knew every Mas rifleman, every mortar man, every Madsen gunner of theirs I killed could be easily replaced. The US got around 10,000 Arabs their first year in 2003 and still in 2004 they were fighting just as hard. Anyway, today everyone came to grips that we are knocking on death’s door. I admit I’m scared and I doubt I’m going to make it, but I’m proud to have served as a 100^th infantry soldier and died for my country.